TGIF! In today’s Foodie Friday post we bring you a twist on eggs and bacon. If you’ve ever lived in the South, you know that deviled eggs are a staple at almost any gathering - church potlucks, dinner at a friend’s house, and work luncheons. Deviled eggs are an inexpensive, quick, and easy alternative to many other finger foods. But how can you set your deviled eggs apart? With candied bacon of course!

I was surprised and how quickly this all came together. Deviled eggs are easy enough, but I wasn’t sure about the bacon since I’ve never made it candied before. It was as simple and spreading the candied paste on the bacon and baking it for 20 minutes - that’s it! I suggest starting the bacon making while your eggs are boiling, so you may want to read through both sets of instructions and then decide how you can save time. You can start with having your oven preheated to 350°F to get a head start.

Deviled Eggs with Candied Bacon

Ingredients (Deviled Eggs)

• 7 eggs, boiled
• 3 T. mayonnaise
• 1 T. mustard
• 2 T. sweet pickle relish
• 1/2 tsp. celery salt
• dash of black pepper

Directions (Deviled Eggs)

1. Boil eggs and peel. Cut each egg in half and scoop out the yolks - set yolks in a small bowl. Place egg white halves on a plate or serving dish. I always make 7 eggs in case I have one egg that doesn’t peel well or gets messed up.

2. Add mayo, mustard, celery salt, pickle relish and pepper to the egg yolks and mash together. This should give you a smooth, creamy consistency. If not, add either a little more mayo or some juice from the pickle relish.

3. Using a spatula, scoop out all the yolk mixture and put into a quart size sealable bag. Squeeze contents toward one corner of the bag and then cut off the corner of the bag. I like to use this method because it makes it so much easier to fill the eggs. Slowly squeeze bag with mixture to fill each egg white half.

While the eggs are boiling, I suggest working on your candied bacon.

Ingredients (Candied Bacon)

• 4-5 strips of bacon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 T. maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions (Candied Bacon)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. While your eggs are boiling, combine brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Spread paste over each piece of bacon on both sides.

2. Place a piece of parchment paper (or aluminum foil) on a cookie sheet, then place a wire rack on top of that. Put strips of bacon on wire rack and cook for 20-25 minutes. They should be semi-firm but not crispy. Once you take them out they will cool to a firm, crisp texture.

3. Once the bacon has cooled, cut it into 1/2″ pieces. I cut mine into something that ended up looking like a trapezoid and I like to think of them as “shards” of bacon. Place a “shard” on top of each egg half.

What do you do to spice up deviled eggs?

~Laura Owens, Maggie Bags

If you have ever posted a Facebook comment, retweeted a Maggie Bags™ tweet or seen one of our super cute sets on Polyvore then you have “met” Laura. Laura is all things social media for Maggie Bags™. Her passion is to connect with our customers in interesting and creative ways. When she is not connecting at work she is connecting with her family, relaxing with yoga or blogging from her cat’s point of view.